2013 has been a big year in beauty, with each week seeming to bring a new exciting innovation to the industry. New products were seen offering everything from blurring to automatic hair curling - but while some were embraced wholeheartedly, others just slipped quietly onto the shelves. Rather than giving our opinion on what products would probably have got consumers excited this year, beautydirectory decided to get some cold hard facts on the most successful launches from Australia’s leading health and beauty retailer, Priceline. Here, Priceline communications manager Gabrielle Tully reveals what products have truly hit the ground running in 2013.
Skincare
Skincare means big business for Priceline, with the retailer selling 350 cleansers every hour and four moisturisers every minute. For skincare, the four brands that were seen dominating the spotlight when it came to 2013 launches were , Pond’s, and Revitalift Day Cream. Within the first two months of launching Nanoblur, we sold close to 25,000 units and by the end of October this year, we had sold 76,834 units,” says Tully. It’s a similar story for the L’Oréal Paris Revitalift Laser, with the anti-ageing range a big hit since launching into Priceline in February with 31,571 units sold.
NIVEA’s In-Shower Body Lotion has also received a lot of consumer attention. Launching in July, 33,146 units have already been sold of this innovative new two-in-one shower gel and moisturiser. Pond’s has also been seen to do exceptionally well this year, selling more than 70,000 units. This brand doesn’t look like slowing down anytime soon either, with Tully revealing, there are some exciting launches planned next year with 10 new SKUs to be introduced in 2014”.
Nails
In terms of trends, nail and colour has exploded in the beauty world - driving 38 per cent of total market value growth. It is the fastest growing category and now the number-three value segment. While there have been many exciting launches in nails in 2013, the arrival of essie onto our shores has proven to garner the most attention. Chosen by Duchess of Cambridge Catherine on the day of her wedding, essie has quickly gained a huge Australian following. Launching in Priceline in the last week of August, the retailer has already sold 63,440 units of the brand.
Fragrance
With 2012 seeing the launch of 85 celebrity fragrances, representing the fastest growing fragrance category in Priceline, it’s hardly surprising that the most successful fragrance launches in 2013 were seen in the celebrity category. In fact, one celebrity fragrance is sold every two and half minutes in Priceline. Despite only been on sale for six weeks, was seen to be the biggest fragrance seller in Priceline and Priceline Pharmacy - selling close to 20,000 units. was a close second and is expected to soon also eclipse the 20,000 unit mark.
Eyes
The saying it’s all in the eyes” could certainly be adopted by Priceline, with the retailer selling three and a half mascaras every minute and recording a massive 1.5 million units sold in 2012. In fact, mascaras make up 12 per cent of total sales for Priceline and have brought in over $20 million in sales. When it comes to mascara, there were four standout launches in 2013. In the 12 week launch period, Volum’ Express Colossal Cat Eyes Mascara sold 13,929 units, recorded 23,917 units sold, and sold 36,755 units. But the big success story in mascara launches was the Volum’ Express Mega Plush Mascara, which beat the previous record set by COVERGIRL Clump Crusher to sell an impressive 73,380 units during its 12 week launch period.
Hair
Hair in 2013 really saw companies step outside the box when it came to product development. We saw the category deliver a range of world firsts, including a permanent home hair colour powered by oil, a multi-usage permanent home hair-colour foam, and a hair-colouring mask. Ground-breaking innovation looks set to continue in 2014, with the early months seeing Wella Professionals launch a product that allows hair colourists to apply different colours to the hair side by side without bleeding or foils.
The gong for the most successful launch in hair colour in 2013 was won by Olia, followed by and Préférence Wild Ombrés. , John Frieda and continued to be very popular with the Priceline customer, with Batiste selling over 360,000 cans for the last financial year.
Electrical products
It’s no secret that the global at-home device market has been taking off recently, a trend that was also noticed by Priceline. There have been three big success stories for the retailer when it comes to the electrical category - the , and the . While it was only launched two months ago, Priceline has sold close to 1500 units of the VS Curl Secret. The Curl Secret styler works by automatically drawing hair inside a heated curl chamber to create a perfect curl.
Models Prefer’s answer to has been another accomplishment for Priceline, with the Facial Cleansing Brush selling over 1000 units in the past eight weeks. Also nailing it in 2013 was the Scholl Velvet Express Pedi, We've sold nearly 17,000 units and 1803 refills to date, making this a huge product in 2013!” exclaims Tully.
Health
As Australians are increasingly taking more interest in their health and wellbeing, Priceline has jumped on this trend - offering a wide range of solutions in the category. When it comes to natural health, has proven to be a big seller since it relaunched in August. Sales have reached more than $AU3 million and the BioSource Fish Oil is selling more than 4300 units a week,” reveals Tully. Bioglan Krill Oil has also been a huge seller and is Priceline’s best selling Krill Oil - with the retailer selling close to 14,000 units of it since January 2013.
In the medicinal health category, Rejuvenail has been bringing in the dollars. The anti-fungal nail treatment has accounted for approximately $AU300,000 in sales in only three months. When it comes to digestive health, Priceline has seen an increase in the awareness and demand for hydration products with brands like Hydralyte seeing more than a 30 per cent increase in sales.
With brands continuing to shock us each year with exciting new launches, we’re already looking forward to seeing what 2014 has to offer...